Gran Canaria- Canary Islands

On December 18^th we left our house in Durham and took the train to Edinburgh. We spent the evening walking around the Christmas market in Edinburgh, which was filled with food, rides and anything Christmas or not that you could want to buy. The Christmas market is along a main block of regular retail shops and we were able to peruse the stores until 6pm. For some reason, all stores close at 6pm or before, even during the holiday shopping rush! It was a surprise to us when we first arrived in the UK and we are still uncertain of how these shops do any business if everyone works from 9am-5pm. The Christmas Market was open later than these stores, so we walked through the crowds in the market and then found a local place to eat pizza, grab a pint and have some dessert. We stayed in a hostel in Edinburgh that night- our first experience. Todd had trouble sleeping with the heater that kicked on every 10 minutes and I awoke several times by a woman who repeatedly left the room in the night slamming the door on her way out. This was still the best option for us since we had to leave the hostel at 4:30 to catch our bus to the airport for our 6:45am flight.

We met a couple in the hostel at 4am that told us their flight had been canceled due to bad weather conditions, but everything went smoothly in the airport for us and we took off in Edinburgh while in began to snow heavily.

The airport in Gran Canaria is right on the beach so we had a beautiful view flying into the airport and were greeted by the warm sun and the ocean! Todd used his great Spanish-speaking skills to get us on the public bus that took us to your hotel.

We made the best decision of splurging a bit on a room with an ocean-side view. It was a small room, but it had a terrace and a beautiful view! We slept with the terrace door open every night so that we could hear the ocean while we slept and it was a delight to be able to sleep in the fresh 65 degree weather. We spent our days exploring the towns around us and getting some sun on the beach. Our hotel had 3 adult swimming pools and 2 jacuzzis so we spent some time there also. As sunny and warm as it was the weather could change rapidly and a few times we were caught in the middle of a downpour without warning.

The part of island we were on had many touristy Irish pubs called “Mulligan’s” or “O’Neils”, but managed to find different local restaurants (we eat well!) to have tapas every night. We had garlic prawns and prawn stuffed red peppers and yummy fried creams for dessert among other things. We enjoyed the mid to upper 70 degree weather and sunshine everyday and tried to take in as much sunshine as we could.

We said goodbye to the sun and the beach on the 22^nd and headed back to Edinburgh to more snow falling and 14 degree temperatures. There were train issues due to London having snow and we had some troubles getting back to Durham. We made it onto a train that took us home and had a nice conversation with a young couple on the train about British vs. American holiday traditions. I learned that mincemeat pies do not usually have any meat in them, just fruit, though upon some more research I’ve found that they are supposed to be a meat and fruit pie combination.

We picked up the pups at a local kennel the next day where they seemed to have a good old time with the caretaker/owner who told us he became quite fond of them.

With the fresh 2-3 inches of snowfall in Durham upon our return, it was wonderful to get away to a place where we could live in flip flops and shorts for a few days and the 6pm sunsets (instead of 3:30 sunsets) will be missed.

Good-bye sunshine! See you in April!

How we wear out our "kids"

In the snow, most parents take their children sled ridding. The process of walking up and down the hill, as I recall, is quite tiring and leads to worn out kids. We don't have kids, but we do still have dogs that need to be worn out every few days. So, since we can't sled ride with them (hmmm....we might just have to test that theory someday) we throw snowballs down the hill so that they have to leap down through the foot of snow to "retrieve" them. The picture at the side is how high the snow is- pretty soon we won't be able to see the dogs!

My first fake Christmas tree

For the past week, we've been having tons of snow here in Durham, England. There is now about 12 inches on the ground and everyday a little bit more falls. Like most people I have a love/hate relationship with the snow. It's beautiful and really makes me feel like Christmas is coming, but I really hate going outside in it.

Last night, Todd and I put up our tree and stockings. In Ambridge, we only had a tree our first year of marriage and thereafter never bothered with a tree. This year we were given all of our Christmas supplies from a family who moved back to the States this summer. I bought a lot of kitchen items and linens from them and they threw in their Christmas stuff for free (Thanks Laurie!). I've never been one for "Christmas spirit", in fact, the holidays usually mean anxiety over what gifts to buy. But this year we put up the stockings and tree that were given to us and we had fun decorating in our Santa hats.

I grew up with always having a freshly chopped-down Christmas tree, the house always smelling like a pine or spruce tree (blue spruce in particular if my Mother had anything to say about it). The tree was always decorated with white lights and red beads and every year my brother and I got a new ornament to put on the tree. It was always fun to open up the ornaments we had gotten before and stroll down memory lane remembering how long we've had each one and which was our favorite. Our tree was always pretty, but had the personal touches of our family.

This year, we have a fake tree- it's my first. There is no spruce smell in the house and the tree is decorated in multi-colored lights, red and silver balls, silver snow flakes and one Piglet and one Eeyore ornament. It's wonderfully tacky and I love that I don't have to water it, clean the needles up or worry about the dogs destroying it! We haven't had a tree for the past three years because we couldn't justify spending money on it and all the decorations, and since we were always not at our home for Christmas, we didn't see the point. Because of that, I also never felt the excitement leading up to Christmas. But this year, I'm delighted in the fact that we spent no money and still got to have a fun night of decorating, watching the snow fall and listening to Christmas music (sadly, I left my Sarah McLachlan Wintersong album at home, but we still had some Bing Crosby to fill the void).

This year, having our tree, Christmas decorations and all this snow, I am excited for the Christmas season. Funny enough, even with all my "Christmas spirit" I've just booked our 4 day getaway to the Canary Islands from December 19-22 (our only Christmas gift to each other), where there will be no snow and only warm sunny days and beaches. I do, however, look forward to coming back to Durham for the days leading up to Christmas and Christmas eve at the Cathedral. Maybe all the snow will still be around for the Christmas festivities when we return.

I'm dreaming of a white Thanksgiving???

Picture from the front of our house

Picture of the backyard

It's snowing here and not the kind of snow/rain mix that we've had here before. It's sticking to the ground and roads. We were told that it is a rare event for snow to hit us here. Lowest temperatures for this area are around 32 degrees, so snow rarely precipitates and when it does it lasts a short time as the temperature climbs a few degrees in the day. Last year the area was blasted with snow, we were told, but the people at church we spoke to told us that they haven't gotten snow like that in 40 years! The snow today is about 3 inches and it's still coming down off and on. Since there is no thanksgiving here, the kids are still in school and not able to enjoy the snow. The ladies at church say they "feels bad for the kiddies 'cause they go to school when the snow is a fallin' but when they comes home the snow's gone". That's my example of the local dialect that I'll have to write about later. Maybe today's snow will stick around a bit so the kids can play. It is quite pretty, though I imagine driving on the road is not fun here.










The pups love the snow! And I love that all I have to do is open up the back door and say "Outside" instead of walking them for 15 minutes on a leash in the cold weather!

Things I find to be strange here....

Squash Juice? Really? It's as gross as it sounds.

The signs here are funny, but this is my favorite.

This is the local supermarket Sainsbury's. Going to the Fishmonger to get my seafood just makes me giggle. Another strange thing, the butcher (on the right) you have to get your deli meat by the slice not by the weight.

They don't mince words here. In fact, we've seen many adverts (commercials) about killing others while texting and drunk driving that are enough to startle anyone, though I wonder if they are used to that here.

Don't know if the word "wimpy" has the same connotation here, but I thought you'd never see someone advertising for Wimpey Homes in the States.

Beauty of Durham

Durham Cathedral

Cloisters at the Cathedral

Todd and I went with some friends to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 on Sunday. This is a picture of one of the first Harry Potter movies that were filmed in and around Durham Cathedral. 

Harry Potter and Hedwig in the Durham Cloisters

Behind our house are many walking paths. It's been raining non-stop for the past week, with no sunshine. This morning we saw that the sun was peaking through so Maggie Belle and I walked Todd half way to school, but of course like typical English weather we were outside for about 10 minutes when it began to rain. Here are some pictures of the places that we walk taken on not so rainy days. 

Paths carved out of the fields for us to walk through

Cement footpaths for walkers and bikers

The dogs walk through the brush instead of the path

Some of the fields are not brush and this is were the dogs run

At the top of the hill we have a great view of Durham and the surrounding area

Tynemouth Priory and Castle

 
On Saturday, Todd, Maggie, Belle and I went to visit Tynemouth Priory and Castle and play on the beach. Tynemouth is a small town located on the North Sea with beautiful cliffs and beaches.  It took about an hour to get there by rail. We met a woman on the regional rail who said that she took her dogs to Tynemouth all the time and it was a great place to play in the water.

 Todd on the beach with the castle in the background

We had a fun time playing in a little curved out beach area close to the castle. Maggie and Belle ran around and got rid of some energy. They were completely soaked and sandy when we left the beach.

Playing on the beach

Belle on the beach

We visited the castle and priory with the dogs since it’s mostly in ruins and there is a lot of grass.  We learned about the rich history of this beautiful headland and how the area was used at different times as a monastery, a castle, a fort and more recently for coastal defence. We had a fun day filled with lots of walking.

All four of us were very tired by the end of the day, but not too tired to enjoy some fish and chips!